Chicken Pasta Soup

Ingredients: 

• 1 medium size onion , diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1.5 litres of homemade chicken stock  
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stalk of fresh thyme 
• 1 chicken breasts, diced
• 2 cups of small macaroni pasta, uncooked
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions: 

1. Marinate chicken breasts with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp black pepper. 
2. Heat olive oil in a pot.
3. Add onions, carrots and celery. Saute on medium heat for 5-7 minutes. 
4. Add garlic, stir for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
5. Add diced chicken. Sauté for about 5 minutes. 
6. Add chicken stock, bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes. 
7. Add pasta. Simmer for 5-7 minutes till pasta is cooked.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste 
9. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve immediately. 

Note: 

• If you're not serving immediately, you can boil pasta separately and top with soup after soup is cooked. In this way, pasta will not be over cooked. 
• If you have leftover roasted chicken or chicken breasts, you can chopped into smaller pieces and add to soup instead of using fresh chicken breasts. 
• If you are using store-bought chicken stock, use 1000ml instead and top up 500ml of water. Store-bought chicken stock tends to be salty so adjust salt accordingly. 
• Recipe serves 2 adults and 2 kids.